Delhi gangrape convicts may get death sentence because of public outrage in India over the crime

News East West

NEW DELHI: The death sentence seams an imminent possibility for the four persons convicted in the Delhi gangrape case.

A fast-track court here which convicted them on Tuesday is set pronounce the quantum of punishment on Friday.

The young 23-year-old medical student was lured by six persons, including one minor, into a chartered bus near Munirka village in south Delhi on the night of December 16 and then gangraped and brutalized  in the moving vehicle by the six monsters – Ram Singh, Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta, and Akshay Thakur.

A male companion of the girl was beaten unconscious while the six gangraped girl who died later of internal injuries in a Singapore hospital.

While Ram Singh, who was the driver of the bus and elder brother of Mukesh Singh, committed suicide in Tihar Jail, the unnamed minor has been given three years by a juvenile board.

Considering the public outrage over the incident, the Delhi Police has sought death for the four while defence lawyers have opposed it, saying that life imprisonment is the maximum sentence that can imposed in such cases.

On Wednesday, special public prosecutor Dayan Krishnan argued before additional sessions judge Yogesh Khanna that this crime is “not only grotesque and diabolic in nature but the barbaric behaviour of the convicts was of the highest kind. Maximum sentence has to be given as the court should see that they have raped and killed a helpless girl, even as she pleaded for her life.’’

He said, “This is an extreme case of depravity and sexual assault of a young girl, who could not survive after their gruesome attack and gangrape. The act to damage the girl’s intestines intentionally leaves no scope of sympathy.’’

The family of the victim has demanded that nothing less than death for the four convicts.

Says a Delhi high court advocate, “Considering the public outrage across India over this case,  anything is possibility and the judge is not going to be lenient to the convicts. See what happened in the Jessica Lal case because of the public outrage.’’